Right, because it's not like people read books, newspapers and magazines on the train before smartphones were invented. And it's totally reasonably to expect people to be ultra-vigilant, watching for extremely rare crimes in a fairly safe neighborhood.

But hey, what do I know. It's not like I rode that train or went to that university before smartphones were around. Oh wait -- I did.

There's a scene in a book called Halting State.The characters run around wearing something akin to Google Glass, and with it they can log into MMORPGs, turning into a sort of LARP, but not really.

Anyway, at one point this guy is logged into all of his games at once, and is staring at a crowd of people who are also logged into their various games and various characters, viewed through the Google Glass. He is so distracted, that he doesn't realize the bad guy coming at him actually does have a knife, and stabs him. He survives, but the scene stays vivid to me precisely because I notice this around me all the time. I am constantly pointing things out to others, only to have them go, "How did you notice that?"

And no, I'm not ADD.

/Life is starting to imitate a few too many dystopian books for my comfort, though

MrEricSir:Right, because it's not like people read books, newspapers and magazines on the train before smartphones were invented. And it's totally reasonably to expect people to be ultra-vigilant, watching for extremely rare crimes in a fairly safe neighborhood.

But hey, what do I know. It's not like I rode that train or went to that university before smartphones were around. Oh wait -- I did.

Pseudo-ignoring people on the bus is not new. This is more like "on train b thr n 10 !!!11!fux goty shot by h8er"

Peki:There's a scene in a book called Halting State.The characters run around wearing something akin to Google Glass, and with it they can log into MMORPGs, turning into a sort of LARP, but not really.

Anyway, at one point this guy is logged into all of his games at once, and is staring at a crowd of people who are also logged into their various games and various characters, viewed through the Google Glass. He is so distracted, that he doesn't realize the bad guy coming at him actually does have a knife, and stabs him. He survives, but the scene stays vivid to me precisely because I notice this around me all the time. I am constantly pointing things out to others, only to have them go, "How did you notice that?"

And no, I'm not ADD.

/Life is starting to imitate a few too many dystopian books for my comfort, though

doglover:Peki: There's a scene in a book called Halting State.The characters run around wearing something akin to Google Glass, and with it they can log into MMORPGs, turning into a sort of LARP, but not really.

Anyway, at one point this guy is logged into all of his games at once, and is staring at a crowd of people who are also logged into their various games and various characters, viewed through the Google Glass. He is so distracted, that he doesn't realize the bad guy coming at him actually does have a knife, and stabs him. He survives, but the scene stays vivid to me precisely because I notice this around me all the time. I am constantly pointing things out to others, only to have them go, "How did you notice that?"

And no, I'm not ADD.

/Life is starting to imitate a few too many dystopian books for my comfort, though

Sounds like hypervigilence.

And we have a winner.

/it's a symptom of PTSD, but I'm not sure I've had PTSD since childhood, but I've always been "observant". That requires more conversations with my parents, and they've already shot my childhood to hell enough as it is with revelations from the past.

Nobody noticed? Come on. I know people are buried in their cell phones on public transport, but not everyone. You can't tell me that no one in San Fran uses their commute to quietly reflect or stare at the bumps on that one guy's head.

swahnhennessy:Nobody noticed? Come on. I know people are buried in their cell phones on public transport, but not everyone. You can't tell me that no one in San Fran uses their commute to quietly reflect or stare at the bumps on that one guy's head.

swahnhennessy:Nobody noticed? Come on. I know people are buried in their cell phones on public transport, but not everyone. You can't tell me that no one in San Fran uses their commute to quietly reflect or stare at the bumps on that one guy's head.

I grew up in a small city (Albuquerque) and now live in a small town. A few times I've gotten to go to the DC area for work and ridden the Metro. As a small town guy and a geek, I spent most of my time being fascinated by the train and thinking about its physics, and also trying to subtly admire some of the more strange and interesting people who ride the Metro... like the older black guy who kept cackling to him self while saying "Tom Turkey forEVAH!"

I guess if it were part of my daily routine though, I'd probably spend it playing games on the phone or something. Can't deny.

Ummm, he's caught on camera, so kinda hard to plead not guilty on that. Is he pleading not guilty by reason of insanity? Is that still a thing now?

You always plead not guilty to a crime initially, even if you intend to plead guilty later. The thing is if you plead guilty, and the court accepts the plea, well then it is all done, you have no negotiating power, nothing can be done, etc. You plead not guilty and let your lawyer have a look at things. In particular, most people can get a plea agreement. Trials are expensive, even when they have someone dead to rights. So they don't want to do that and will offer you a bit better deal if you'll plead guilty. However if you already did that, then no dice.

So in basically every case ever you plead not guilty at initial arraignment. For that matter, if you tried to plead guilty a judge might refuse to accept the plea, and enter a plea of not guilty on your behalf (worried that you might be insane or something like that). The initial not guilty plea is a formality.

swahnhennessy:Nobody noticed? Come on. I know people are buried in their cell phones on public transport, but not everyone. You can't tell me that no one in San Fran uses their commute to quietly reflect or stare at the bumps on that one guy's head.

doglover:Peki: There's a scene in a book called Halting State.The characters run around wearing something akin to Google Glass, and with it they can log into MMORPGs, turning into a sort of LARP, but not really.

Anyway, at one point this guy is logged into all of his games at once, and is staring at a crowd of people who are also logged into their various games and various characters, viewed through the Google Glass. He is so distracted, that he doesn't realize the bad guy coming at him actually does have a knife, and stabs him. He survives, but the scene stays vivid to me precisely because I notice this around me all the time. I am constantly pointing things out to others, only to have them go, "How did you notice that?"

And no, I'm not ADD.

/Life is starting to imitate a few too many dystopian books for my comfort, though

Sounds like hypervigilence.

No, I do that too.

It's called not being wrapped up in one's tech and actually noticing things in the world. Awareness, if you like.

Gyrfalcon:doglover: Peki: There's a scene in a book called Halting State.The characters run around wearing something akin to Google Glass, and with it they can log into MMORPGs, turning into a sort of LARP, but not really.

Anyway, at one point this guy is logged into all of his games at once, and is staring at a crowd of people who are also logged into their various games and various characters, viewed through the Google Glass. He is so distracted, that he doesn't realize the bad guy coming at him actually does have a knife, and stabs him. He survives, but the scene stays vivid to me precisely because I notice this around me all the time. I am constantly pointing things out to others, only to have them go, "How did you notice that?"

And no, I'm not ADD.

/Life is starting to imitate a few too many dystopian books for my comfort, though

Sounds like hypervigilence.

No, I do that too.

It's called not being wrapped up in one's tech and actually noticing things in the world. Awareness, if you like.

swahnhennessy:Nobody noticed? Come on. I know people are buried in their cell phones on public transport, but not everyone. You can't tell me that no one in San Fran uses their commute to quietly reflect or stare at the bumps on that one guy's head.

I'm on a commuter bus right now. I can see what 14 people near me are doing (including myself) and 12 are on their phones or tablets, one is reading a newspaper, and another is looking out the window checking out all the drivers of the cars we pass it looks like.

I am fairly sure I could take my pants off right now and no one would notice till we make it to the city.

asynchron:I've gotten to go to the DC area for work and ridden the Metro. As a small town guy and a geek, I spent most of my time being fascinated by the train and thinking about its physics, and also trying to subtly admire some of the more strange and interesting people who ride the Metro...

Even that might not be enough to be vigilant. Back before the era of cell phones, I remember being chided by my mother when I was outside just admiring how pretty the sky was and the birds flying around, because it meant I wasn't paying attention to who might be walking by. Cell phones are distracting, but thinking is distracting, too.

Of course, I do wonder what the police wanted people to do if they did see the guy with the gun. Ask him to stop? Give him dirty looks? Call the police (from a few feet away, where they would be heard)? Get up and leave (which was what was done by the one guy who was killed)? Since leaving turned out to be deadly and provoking the guy sounds worse, I don't know what the police wanted to have happen.

I used to get too many of the "are you looking at me?" weirdos when I used public transportation, so I probably would not have noticed. I now have the habit of being in my own mental world and don't care much about what is going on around me; just vigilant enough to stay away from possibly suspicious looking situations out of the corner of my eyes but not looking directly at anything or anyone. Also, its easier to tell a cop "I didn't see anything" than have to take off work to go to a trial as a witness.

Starry Heavens:asynchron: I've gotten to go to the DC area for work and ridden the Metro. As a small town guy and a geek, I spent most of my time being fascinated by the train and thinking about its physics, and also trying to subtly admire some of the more strange and interesting people who ride the Metro...

Even that might not be enough to be vigilant. Back before the era of cell phones, I remember being chided by my mother when I was outside just admiring how pretty the sky was and the birds flying around, because it meant I wasn't paying attention to who might be walking by. Cell phones are distracting, but thinking is distracting, too.

Of course, I do wonder what the police wanted people to do if they did see the guy with the gun. Ask him to stop? Give him dirty looks? Call the police (from a few feet away, where they would be heard)? Get up and leave (which was what was done by the one guy who was killed)? Since leaving turned out to be deadly and provoking the guy sounds worse, I don't know what the police wanted to have happen.

Mayor Bloomberg said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe'' on Monday, in response to questioning about the officer's actions. "And if you see somebody getting beaten up, you know, let's go jump in and stop the fight."

I don't ride MUNI in San Francisco, but I ride BART, and I have to admit I do my best to ignore everyone and retreat into my own world. San Francisco urban transit is PUNITIVE. Everything about it is WE HATE YOU RIDER. YOU MUST BE PUNISHED FOR BEING POORS. Withdrawing into myself is self-defense for my own mental health.

And lately we've been getting "captive audience" performers who play loud music and do crappy performances in the middle of cars for handouts.

I'm on a commuter bus right now. I can see what 14 people near me are doing (including myself) and 12 are on their phones or tablets, one is reading a newspaper, and another is looking around at everyone. I'm pretending to look out the window, hoping the weirdo doesn't notice I'm watching him.

o'really:"Streetcar" sounds too much like "cable car", people are easily confused.

/is it really a streetcar if it goes underground?

Muni's streetcar lines run above ground and in the middle of the street for a substantial part of their journey, and the vehicles are self-propelled. Cable cars don't have on-board propulsion, hence their name.

Loki009:swahnhennessy: Nobody noticed? Come on. I know people are buried in their cell phones on public transport, but not everyone. You can't tell me that no one in San Fran uses their commute to quietly reflect or stare at the bumps on that one guy's head.

I'm on a commuter bus right now. I can see what 14 people near me are doing (including myself) and 12 are on their phones or tablets, one is reading a newspaper, and another is looking out the window checking out all the drivers of the cars we pass it looks like.

I am fairly sure I could take my pants off right now and no one would notice till we make it to the city.

How do nuts like this get 20K cash and carry it around? He's not alone, there have been other cases like this. I'd have to sell stocks, clean out bank accounts. It'd be a process and I'm a normal farker with a day job who saved up money. Yet this crazy has it lying around, and wants to hunt people.

People who don't pay attention to the world around them in public should be ripped off or assaulted. Especially people who are using their smart phones to complain about all the crime everywhere or to play some crime game.

If you want to help some idiot, knock his/her phone down and stomp on it to see if it registers as a learning experience. If said idiot's reaction is to go "Damn, some guy came out of nowhere and stomped on my Blackberry. But I used that as an excuse to buy a new iPhone!" then the next time they should be eaten.

I've been on a subway train where a man was flashing a gun (he was in a heated dispute with another man) you better believe everyone on that train knew the guy was carrying a pistol and you better believe that nobody was going to let on that they knew it.

II'd never seen so many perfectly blank poker faces like that in one place at the same time.

The One True TheDavid:Mouren: Not my job to pay attention. Also I already have too many axes hanging over my head, I'd rather not see the one that does actually take me out.

I hope you're being "ironic."

By the way: Midnight Meat Train.

Nope, not particularly. In the past year I've had a brain tumor and stage 4 cancer, so pardon if I don't particularly find some kook with a gun threatening. At least it would be faster than what I'm going through.